News Archives
BMJ editor’s choice: medical cannabis on the NHS
Known cannabis teratogenicity needs to be carefully considered, Stuart Reece writes. Statements from patients are uninterpretable without understanding the treatments tried, their withdrawal symptomatology and their personal preferences. Most importantly, cannabis is a mixture of 104 cannabinoids – medicines in western nations are…
Researchers uncover new target of alcohol in the brain
The Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago report in Neuropharmacology that alcohol blocks a potassium channel called KCNK13 in the membrane of dopamine-releasing neurons in the VTA. When the potassium channel gets blocked, the neurons increase their…
Last chance to book for L’Orchestre du Monde
Virtuosi of the musical world will be playing in London’s Cadogan Hall on 25 October, to fundraise for DrugFam. Founder Elizabeth Burton-Phillips invites readers to join them.
E-cigarettes are good or bad depending on the study – so what’s the truth?
3 researchers from University of Swansea reviewed the literature – and recommend that any member of the public looking for information on the safety of e-cigarettes should take news reports, government statements and influencing group claims with a certain pinch…
Growing evidence that noise is bad for your health
We’ve heard people in recovery driven to the brink of relapse and even suicide by thumping bass ‘music’ in nearby buildings – now at last, the World Health Organisation’s Environmental Noise Guidelines include leisure noise (for example from nightclubs, pubs, concerts or…